Ophthalmic treatment device, method for controlling ophthalmic treatment device, and fundus lesion treatment method

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an ophthalmic treatment device, a control method therefor and a fundus lesion treatment method, the ophthalmic treatment device comprising: a treatment beam generation unit for generating a treatment beam; a beam delivery unit for forming a path through which the treatment beam generated from the treatment beam generating unit is irradiated into a patient&#39;s fundus; and a control unit for controlling the beam delivery unit to irradiate the treatment beam into a location adjacent to the lesion area of the fundus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This present disclosure is a U.S. National Stage of International PatentApplication No. PCT/KR2014/012079 filed Dec. 9, 2014, which claimspriority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/913,902 filed on Dec. 9, 2013, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an ophthalmic treatment device, amethod of controlling the same, and a method of treating a funduslesion, and more particularly, to an ophthalmic treatment device, amethod of controlling the same, and a method of treating a fundus lesionthat can treat a fundus area by radiating light to a patient's fundus.

BACKGROUND ART

Nowadays, technology that treats with a method of changing a state of ahuman body tissue by light energy by radiating light that can beabsorbed into the human body tissue to a human body has been widelyapplied. A treatment device using laser is widely used for variouslesions such as skin disease, eye disease, nerve disease, joint disease,and gynecology disease.

As an ophthalmic treatment device using laser, many methods and devicesfor treating an anterior segment lesion of eye such as cornea surgeryand glaucoma or cataract surgery have been developed, and recently, amethod and device for treating various lesions of a fundus area as wellas macular degeneration have been developed.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

The present invention provides an ophthalmic treatment device, a methodof controlling the same, and a method of treating a fundus lesion thatcan prevent a lesion area from additionally extending when treating alesion of a fundus area.

Technical Solution

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an ophthalmictreatment device includes: a treatment beam generation unit thatgenerates a treatment beam; a beam delivery unit that forms a path thatradiates a treatment beam generated in the treatment beam generationunit to a patient's fundus; and a controller that controls the beamdelivery unit to radiate the treatment beam to a location adjacent to alesion area of the fundus.

The treatment beam may transfer energy to a depth in which an RPE celllayer is located at the patient's fundus. The lesion area of the fundusmay be any one of an area in which geography antiography has occurred,an area in which drugen is formed, an area in which blood leakage (bloodleakage from a new blood vessel formed in a retina base) has occurred,and an area in which macular edema is formed.

The controller may control to radiate the treatment beam along a patternthat partitions between the lesion area and the center of the fundus inorder to prevent the lesion area from being extended to a central areaof the fundus.

The controller may control to radiate the treatment beam along a patternseparated by a predetermined gap or more from a boundary of the lesionarea. Here, a pattern of the treatment beam may be separated by 10-200μm from a boundary of the lesion area or may be separated from aboundary of the lesion area such that 1 to 20 or more RPE cells arelocated between the pattern of the treatment beam and a boundary of thelesion area.

A pattern of the treatment beam may be formed in a form that enclosesthe lesion area in order to prevent the lesion area from being extended.Specifically, a pattern of the treatment beam may form a closed curvethat encloses the lesion area at the outside of the lesion area.

The treatment beam pattern may include a first pattern and a secondpattern, and the second pattern may be separately located further thanthe first pattern from a boundary of the lesion area. A radiation gap ofa treatment beam constituting the first pattern may be smaller than thatof a treatment beam constituting the second pattern.

The ophthalmic treatment device may further include a monitoring unitthat radiates a probe beam to a location to which the treatment beam isradiated and that detects state information of a corresponding locationbased on interference information of the probe beam scattered orreflected at a location at which the treatment beam is radiated.

The controller may control to sequentially radiate at least onetreatment beam at the same location and control a parameter of thetreatment beam based on state information of a corresponding locationdetected in the monitoring unit.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method oftreating a fundus lesion includes: determining a lesion area using apatient's fundus image; setting a radiation pattern of a treatment beamalong a location adjacent to the lesion area; and radiating a treatmentbeam along the preset radiation pattern of a treatment beam.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method ofcontrolling an ophthalmic treatment device includes: acquiring a fundusimage including lesion area information; and setting a pattern in whicha treatment beam is radiated along a location adjacent to the lesionarea.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present invention, by regenerating an RPE cell of anadjacent area by radiating light to an area adjacent to a lesion area,the lesion area can be effectively prevented from being extended.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an ophthalmic treatment deviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the ophthalmic treatmentdevice of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a retina tissue corresponding to apatient's fundus;

FIGS. 4A to 4E are graphs illustrating an example of a parameter changeof a treatment beam adjusted by a controller;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a geography antiographyarea that has occurred in a retina tissue;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a first example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a second example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a third example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a fourth example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of treating a fundus lesionusing the ophthalmic treatment device of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display content of a display unitthat sets treatment contents of FIG. 10.

BEST MODE

Hereinafter, an ophthalmic treatment device according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to the drawings. In the following description, a locationrelationship of each element will be described based on the drawing. Forconvenience of description, the drawing may simplify a structure of theinvention or may be exaggeratingly displayed, as needed. Therefore, thepresent invention is not limited thereto and various devices may beadded to the present invention, or elements of the present invention maybe changed or omitted.

In the present exemplary embodiment, an ophthalmic treatment device fortreating a lesion of a fundus area such as a retina and a method oftreating a fundus lesion using the same are described as an example, butthe present invention is not limited to the following configuration orstep.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an ophthalmic treatment deviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 2is a schematic diagram illustrating the ophthalmic treatment device ofFIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, an ophthalmic treatment device according tothe present exemplary embodiment may include a slit lamp 10 and adisplay unit 20.

The slit lamp 10 is a device that enables an operator to treat whileobserving a patient's eye. At one side of a main body of the slit lamp10, an object part 170 for fixing a patient's eye location is provided,and at the other side thereof, an eyepiece part 160 that enables anoperator to observe a patient's eye is provided. At the outside of theslit lamp 10, various manipulation units 30 for adjusting treatmentcontents or a visual field direction in which the operator observes maybe provided. At the inside of the slit lamp 10, various constituentelements may be housed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the slit lamp 10 may include a treatment beamgeneration unit 110 that generates a treatment beam, an aiming beamgeneration unit 120 that generates an aiming beam, and a beam deliveryunit 140 that forms a path in which the treatment beam and the aimingbeam advance to the patient's fundus. The slit lamp 10 may furtherinclude a monitoring unit 130 for detecting state information of aradiation location of a treatment beam while treating, a imaging unit150 for acquiring the patient's fundus image, and a controller 40 forcontrolling operation of the foregoing various constituent elements.

The treatment beam generation unit 110 may include a treatment beamlight source (not shown) that generates a treatment beam and variousoptical elements for adjusting a parameter of a treatment beam generatedin the treatment beam light source.

For example, the treatment beam light source may include a laser mediumor a laser diode such as Nd:YAG and Ho:YAG that can oscillate laser. Ina treatment beam generated in the treatment beam light source, aparameter may be adjusted by various optical elements such as an opticalfilter, an optical lens, and a shutter or various electric circuits forexciting a laser medium. Here, a parameter of a treatment beam may be atleast one of an output magnitude of a treatment beam, a beam size at aradiation location, and a pulse pattern such as a pulse width or a pulsecycle. However, a portion of a parameter of a treatment beam may beadjusted by the beam delivery unit.

A treatment beam generated in the treatment beam generation unit 110selectively provides energy to a specific location or a specific tissueto be a treatment target among fundus retina tissues formed in amultiple layer structure. Therefore, a treatment beam is formed usinglaser having a wavelength or a pulse width having low absorbancy inanother tissue and high absorbancy in a target tissue. The treatmentbeam generation unit 110 of the present exemplary embodiment maygenerate light of a wavelength that may be selectively absorbed into anRPE cell layer in a retina tissue and generate laser of, for example, awavelength of 500 nm-600 nm or 800 nm-900 nm.

The aiming beam generation unit 120 generates an aiming beam radiated toa treatment area. Before a treatment beam is radiated or while atreatment beam is radiated, an aiming beam notifies an operator of alocation at which a treatment beam is radiated and is directly radiatedto the patient's fundus. Such an aiming beam has a wavelength of avisible ray band such that an operator directly determines through aneyepiece part.

An aiming beam generated in the aiming beam generation unit 120 may beradiated in a single spot form in order to display one target locationat which a treatment beam is radiated and may be radiated in a pluralityof spot forms in order to simultaneously display a plurality oflocations in which a treatment beam is sequentially radiated. Inaddition, an aiming beam may be radiated in a lattice form and may beradiated with various methods such as a display of a boundary of an areain which a treatment beam is radiated.

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration that enables the aiming beamgeneration unit 120 to radiate an aiming beam through the same path asthat of a treatment beam through the beam delivery unit 140, but theaiming beam generation unit 120 may have a light path separate from thatof a treatment beam. Further, when the operator can determine a locationat which a treatment beam is radiated through a separate interface(e.g., a display unit), the aiming beam generation unit may be omitted.

The beam delivery unit 140 is formed with a plurality of opticalelements disposed between the treatment beam generation unit 110 and theobject part 170 and forms a light path in which a treatment beam, anaiming beam and/or a probe beam of a monitoring unit to be describedlater advance.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the beam delivery unit 140 has aplurality of beam combiners 141. Thereby, a treatment beam generated inthe treatment beam generation unit, an aiming beam generated in theaiming beam generation unit, and a probe beam to be generated in themonitoring unit 130 to be described later may enter the beam deliveryunit 140 to be transferred to a target location along a common path. Anaiming beam and probe beam reflected from the target location mayadvance backward a radiated path to advance in a direction of theeyepiece part 160 or to the monitoring unit 130 along the beam deliveryunit.

Such a beam delivery unit 140 may include a scanner 142 that changes alocation at which a treatment beam, an aiming beam, and a probe beam areradiated on a light path. The scanner may include at least onereflection mirror and a driver that rotates the at least one reflectionmirror. The driver changes an angle of a reflection mirror that reflectslight and thus changes a radiation location of each light.

Further, although not specifically shown in the drawing, the beamdelivery unit 140 may further include optical elements such as aplurality of optical filters and optical lenses for focusing ordistributing light.

In an end portion of the beam delivery unit, an object part 170 isprovided. The object part 170 is a portion in which a patient locateshis eye and may include a contact lens that contacts with the patient'seye. Further, in order to fix the patient's eye while operating, theophthalmic treatment device may include a suction device that inhalesand fixes the patient's eye.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a retina tissue corresponding to apatient's fundus and is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an area A ofFIG. 1. The retina tissue of a fundus is generally formed with 10 layersof an internal limiting layer, a nerve fiber layer, a ganglion celllayer, an inner plexiform layer, an inner nuclear layer, an outerplexiform layer, an outer nuclear layer, an external limiting layer, aphoto receptor layer, and a retinal pigment epithelial layer (RPE layer)(an inner depth direction from a retina surface).

The RPE cell layer (retinal pigment epithelial) forms a boundary layerof a backward direction of the retina among the 10 layers and is formedin a tight junction structure. In a lower portion of the RPE layer, aBruch's membrane is located. Such an RPE layer performs a function ofreceiving nutrients and oxygen from a blood vessel located at a lowerportion of a choroid coat to supply the nutrients to a photo receptorand discharging wastes generated in the photo receptor through theBruch's membrane.

However, when a portion of an RPE cell forming the RPE layer does notperform a normal function, photo receptors of a location correspondingto the RPE cell die because nutrients or oxygen is not normallysupplied. Therefore, the ophthalmic treatment device according to thepresent exemplary embodiment radiates a treatment beam to an RPE celllayer that does not perform a normal function to apply energy and thusinduces a new RPE cell to regenerate at a corresponding location,thereby performing a treatment.

In more detail, as described above, a treatment beam generated in thetreatment beam generation unit 110 has a wavelength of a visible ray ornear infrared ray area. Light of such a wavelength is not almostabsorbed but transmitted at a cell layer (a first cell layer to a ninthcell layer) located at the front side of the retina and is absorbed intomelanosomes existing within a cell of the RPE cell layer. Therefore, asan amount of energy absorbed by a treatment beam increases, a state ofan RPE cell changes and thus a treatment is performed with a method ofregenerating a new RPE cell. It is analyzed that the treatment isperformed as follows. As a temperature of melanosome rises, a microbubble occurs at a surface of melanosome, and as the micro bubblegradually grows, an RPE cell selectively dies, and an adjacent RPE cellregenerates a healthy RPE cell at a corresponding location throughdivision and movement.

In this case, when an excessively large amount of treatment beam isradiated, an adjacent RPE cell or an adjacent photo receptor cell aswell as an RPE cell to be a treatment target may be thermally damaged.Therefore, in the present exemplary embodiment, the ophthalmic treatmentdevice may include the monitoring unit 130 for monitoring treatmentcontents while treating.

Specifically, while a treatment beam is radiated, the monitoring unit130 may monitor in real time state information of a target tissue of alocation at which the treatment beam is radiated. Here, stateinformation may include at least one of information about a temperaturechange, a volume change, and a refractive index change of a tissue of acorresponding location, and a cell movement or a signal generated due tothe change and movement. Such a monitoring unit 130 may be formed invarious structures for detecting such state information at acorresponding location.

For example, the monitoring unit 130 according to the present exemplaryembodiment may detect state information of a tissue by interferenceinformation of light, as in an optical coherent tomography (OCT) device.The OCT device generally divides one beam into a probe beam and areference beam and advances the beam along a separate path and againcombines and receives the probe beam reflected from a target locationwith the reference beam, and in this time, the OCT device acquires atomographic image based on interference information of two beams.

The monitoring unit 130 of the present exemplary embodiment mayseparately have a path in which a probe beam and a reference beamadvance, as in the OCT device. In this case, a reference beam advancesalong a preset path, and a probe beam is radiated and reflected to atarget location along a path in which a treatment beam advances throughthe beam delivery unit 140 to be received to the monitoring unit 130. Adetection unit (not shown) of the monitoring unit 130 may detectinterference information between a received reference beam and probebeam.

However, a conventional OCT device acquires a (coordinate on a planevertical to a path of a probe beam, B-scan) tomographic image whilemoving a horizontal direction coordinate, however the monitoring unit 30according to the present exemplary embodiment detects in real time astate information change of a tissue while radiating a probe beammultiple times to a corresponding location while a treatment isperformed at one location (performs a treatment of a correspondinglocation while a plurality of treatment beams are radiated to onelocation). Specifically, as a treatment beam is radiated, when apredetermined amount or more of energy is absorbed into a targetlocation, a tissue is deformed and thus while a light transmittingcharacteristic, a scattering characteristic, and a reflectioncharacteristic of a corresponding tissue change, a path characteristicin which a probe beam advances is changed. When an advancing pathcharacteristic of the probe beam is changed, interference informationdetected in the monitoring unit 130 is also changed and thus at a timepoint in which the interference information changes, it may be detectedthat a tissue state is changed by a treatment beam.

Interference information obtained in the monitoring unit 130 may includevarious information, and in the present exemplary embodiment, as anexample, information corresponding to a depth area of a target locationis extracted among speckle pattern information obtained frominterference information, by continuously comparing a change amount ofeach extracted information, a state change of a tissue may be detected.

However, the foregoing configuration of the monitoring unit is anexample, and the monitoring unit may detect state change information ofa tissue using an optical method, as in a fundus camera and detect asignal generated due to a state change of a tissue when radiating atreatment beam using a sound wave sensor, a ultrasonic wave sensor, anda temperature sensor and may be variously changed.

Before a treatment starts or while a treatment performs, the imagingunit 150 obtains the patient's fundus image. The obtained fundus imagemay be displayed to the operator through the display unit 20 or may bestored at a separate database. The imaging unit 150 radiates an imagingbeam to the patient's fundus and acquires an image using a reflectedbeam. Therefore, although not specifically shown in the drawing, theimaging unit 150 may include a imaging light source, an optical elementforming a light path, and an image pickup element that acquires an imagefrom a reflected imaging light. In this case, a imaging beam generatedin the imaging light source may form a light path using the foregoingbeam delivery unit and may form a separate light path.

The display unit 20 is provided at a location adjacent to the slit lamp10 to display various information necessary for the operator whiletreating. As shown in FIG. 1, the display unit 20 may be formed using aflat display device and may be formed using various display devices.Alternatively, the display unit 20 may be formed with a head-up displaywithin the slit lamp or may be provided at various locations for theoperator's convenience.

Such a display unit 20 displays a patient's fundus image through adisplay. Such a fundus image may be input by a separate diagnosis deviceand may be displayed using a fundus image obtained in the imaging unit.A fundus image displayed in the display unit 20 includes a patient'slesion area information, and the operator may determine a lesion areausing a fundus image displayed in the display unit 20.

Further, the operator may set various parameters of a treatment beam andoperation contents of various constituent elements within the slit lampas well as a pattern in which a treatment beam is radiated using thedisplay unit 20. For this reason, a display of the display unit 20 maybe formed with a touch screen, and various input devices such as a mouseand a keyboard may be connected thereto. Therefore, the operator may settreatment contents through an input device with reference to a fundusimage displayed in the display unit.

The controller 40 may control operation of various constituent elementssuch as the treatment beam generation unit 110, the aiming beamgeneration unit 120, the monitoring unit 130, the beam delivery unit140, and the scanner 142 according to an operation signal input by theoperator through a manipulation unit or a display unit.

For example, when the operator sets a radiation pattern of a treatmentbeam through the display unit 20, the controller 40 may control variousconstituent elements to radiate a treatment beam to correspond to acorresponding pattern. Alternatively, the controller 40 may control toadjust a parameter of a treatment beam according to the operator'ssetting or a previous input mode through the display unit 20.

Further, the controller 40 may control operation of the treatment beamgeneration unit 110 based on state information of a target locationdetected in the monitoring unit 130. Until a tissue change (e.g., deadof an RPE cell) at one target location is detected, the ophthalmictreatment device according to the present exemplary embodiment radiatesa treatment beam multiple times to perform a treatment. Therefore, whilea treatment beam is radiated multiple times at one target location, themonitoring unit 130 radiates a probe beam multiple times to correspondto a treatment beam to detect state information of a treatment locationand determines whether state information is changed. Here, whiletreating, the controller 40 may control a parameter of a treatment beamor whether to stop radiation of a treatment beam based on stateinformation of a corresponding location detected in the monitoring unit130. Specifically, the controller 40 controls the treatment beamgeneration unit 110 to sequentially transfer high energy from lowerenergy at one location. When it is detected that state information ischanged at a corresponding location through the monitoring unit 130, anincrease amount of transferred energy may be lowered or radiation of atreatment beam may be stopped. The controller controls to transferenergy approaching a threshold point in which a state change occurs ateach location with such a method, thereby preventing an adjacent tissuefrom being damaged with excessive radiation of a treatment beam.

FIGS. 4A to 4E are graphs illustrating an example of a parameter changeof a treatment beam adjusted by a controller. As described above, bycontrolling to sequentially transfer high energy to one location, thecontroller 40 may control a parameter of a treatment beam with variousmethods.

As shown in FIG. 4A, by gradually increasing an output of a treatmentbeam, energy transferred to a treatment location may sequentiallyincrease. As shown in FIG. 4B, an off time between treatment beam pulsesmay be adjusted to gradually shorten, and as shown in FIG. 4C, a pulseduration time of a treatment beam pulse may be adjusted to graduallyincrease. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4D, one pulse of a treatmentbeam is radiated with a plurality of unit pulses having the same output,but a magnitude of transferred energy per unit area of a treatment areamay sequentially increase with a method of sequentially increasing thenumber of a unit pulse constituting one pulse or gradually focusing atreatment beam, as shown in FIG. 4E.

In this way, the controller 40 may adjust a parameter of a treatmentbeam while treating using a value detected by the monitoring unit 130and control operation of each constituent element while treating basedon contents input by an operator or a preset mode.

Various lesion areas occurring in a patient's fundus tissue may betreated using such an ophthalmic treatment device. Here, the lesion areamay include any one of an area in which geography antiography hasoccurred, an area in which drugen is formed, an area in which bloodleakage has occurred, and an area in which macular edema is formed, andhereinafter, for example, a lesion area in which geography antiographyhas occurred will be mainly described.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a geography antiographyarea that has occurred in a retina tissue. As described above, when aportion of an RPE cell of a fundus does not perform a normal function,nutrient supply or oxygen supply is not normally performed in photoreceptors of a corresponding location and thus the photo receptors die.Therefore, in such an area, a geographic atrophy phenomenon is observed.Photo receptors died in a geographic atrophy area cannot be recovered,and when an atrophy area is extended, a patient may lose eye sight.

Therefore, when such a lesion area is observed, by radiating a treatmentbeam, a treatment for preventing a corresponding lesion area fromextending to an adjacent portion may be performed. In this case, a usedtreatment beam may use laser having a wavelength of 500-600 nm or800-900 nm, and a treatment beam advances to a depth in which an RPEcell is located to selectively provide energy to an RPE cell of acorresponding location, thereby regenerating the RPE cell.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a first example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area. By directly radiating atreatment beam to the lesion area according to lesion contents,regeneration of an RPE cell may be induced. However, even if a treatmentbeam is directly radiated to a lesion area in which the RPE cell and aphoto receptor of a corresponding tissue are already died due togeographical atrophy, a treatment effect cannot be expected. In thiscase, as shown in FIG. 6, by radiating a treatment beam in a form thatencloses the lesion area to a tissue located at the outside of thelesion area, but adjacent to a boundary of the lesion area, regenerationof an RPE cell of an adjacent portion may be induced. Thereby, even ifan RPE cell is adjacent to the lesion area, the RPE cell and a photoreceptor of a corresponding area can maintain a normal state, and byenhancing a health state of an tissue adjacent to the lesion area, thelesion area may be blocked from being extended, and as the RPE celldivides and regenerates to the boundary side of the lesion area, atreatment of the lesion area can be expected.

In FIG. 6, a radiation pattern P of a treatment beam may be formed in aclosed curve form that encloses a lesion area. Here, when a treatmentbeam radiation pattern forms a closed curve, this is not limited to acase in which radiation locations of a treatment beam form a closedcurve by overlapping and includes a case of forming a closed curve byconnection of an adjacent radiation location of each treatment beam.

Further, it is unnecessary that a treatment beam radiation pattern isalways a closed curve, and when a lesion area is located at an edge ofthe fundus, a treatment beam pattern may be formed in a form thatcrosses and partitions between a lesion area and the center (yellowspot) of the fundus. In this case, a lesion area may be blocked fromextending in a central direction of the fundus.

Further, in the drawing, a treatment beam radiation pattern forms oneline, but may form a plurality of lines.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a second example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area. The pattern of FIG. 7illustrates a form in which a treatment beam is radiated to a locationseparated by a predetermined gap or more from a boundary of a lesionarea, compared with the pattern of FIG. 6.

As described above, a treatment beam is radiated, but when an RPE celldies, a regeneration process of the RPE cell is performed with a methodof moving or dividing an adjacent RPE cell. However, in the lesion areaand a portion very adjacent to the lesion area, because healthy RPEcells are relatively insufficient, regeneration of the RPE cells may notbe relatively actively performed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, a radiation pattern P of a treatment beammay be formed with separated by a predetermined gap or more from aboundary of a lesion area. For example, the radiation pattern P of atreatment beam may be formed with separated by 10 μm or more from aboundary of the lesion area. However, in order not to be excessivelyseparated from the lesion area, the treatment beam may be radiated toseparate from a range of approximately 10-200 μm. Alternatively, theradiation pattern P of a treatment beam may be formed to be separated byat least one RPE cell size such that at least one RPE cell is disposedbetween the radiation pattern of the treatment beam and a boundary ofthe lesion area. However, even in this case, in order not to beexcessively separated from the lesion area, the treatment beam may beradiated to a range of approximately 1 to 20 RPE cell gaps.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a third example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area. As shown in FIG. 8, apattern P of a treatment beam may include a first pattern P1 formedalong a location adjacent to the lesion area and a second pattern P2further separated from a boundary of the lesion area than the firstpattern. In this way, a treatment beam pattern may be formed with atleast two pattern combinations. In this case, in the first pattern P1formed at a location more adjacent to a boundary of the lesion area, aradiation gap of a treatment beam constituting the first pattern may besmaller than that of a treatment beam constituting the second patternP2.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a fourth example of a radiation patternof a treatment beam radiated to a lesion area. FIGS. 6 to 8 illustrate aradiation pattern of a treatment beam radiated in a line form, but asshown in FIG. 9, a treatment beam radiation pattern P may form an areaformed along a circumference of the lesion area with a predeterminedwidth w. In this case, a width of the treatment beam radiation patternand a spot density of a treatment beam per unit area of the treatmentbeam radiation pattern may be variously adjusted.

A radiation pattern of a treatment beam of FIG. 9 may be formed to beseparated by a predetermined distance from a boundary of the lesionarea. As shown in FIG. 7, a radiation pattern of a treatment beam may beformed to be separated by a range of 10 μm-200 μm from a boundary areaor by a range of 1 to 20 RPE cell gaps based on an RPE cell gap.However, such a separation distance means a shortest distance between aradiation pattern of a treatment beam and a boundary of the lesion area,and it does not mean that a radiation location of an entire treatmentbeam forming a pattern should exist within the range.

In the foregoing description, various radiation patterns of a treatmentbeam according to the present exemplary embodiment has been describedwith reference to FIGS. 6 to 9, but the present invention is not limitedthereto and a treatment beam may be radiated using various patterns.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of treating a fundus lesionusing the ophthalmic treatment device of FIG. 1. Hereinafter, a methodof treating a fundus lesion using the foregoing ophthalmic treatmentdevice will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 10.

In order to treat a fundus lesion, a patient's lesion is diagnosed(S10). At this step, a fundus image including information about thepatient's lesion area may be used. Such a fundus image may be an imagephotographed by a separate diagnosis device such as a fundus camera.Alternatively, such a fundus image may be an image obtained by theimaging unit 150 of the foregoing ophthalmic treatment device. In orderto perform this step, the display unit 20 of the ophthalmic treatmentdevice may operate to receive an input of a fundus image from theoutside or the imaging unit and to display the fundus image. Therefore,the operator may determine a size and location of a lesion area in whichgeography antiography, drugen deposition, blood leakage, and macularedema have occurred with reference to a fundus image displayed in thedisplay unit 20.

A lesion of the patient is diagnosed, and treatment contents may be setusing the ophthalmic treatment device (S20). At this step, a radiationpattern of a treatment beam and a parameter of a treatment beam are set.

As described above, in the present exemplary embodiment, because atreatment is performed with a method of radiating a treatment beam to alocation adjacent to a lesion area, a radiation pattern of a treatmentbeam may be formed at a location adjacent to a boundary of the lesionarea, but separated by a predetermined gap or more.

Step of setting a pattern of a treatment beam may be performed by a userusing a fundus image displayed in the display unit 20 (see FIG. 11). Forexample, when the user displays a boundary B of a lesion area on afundus image displayed in the display unit 20, a processor (not shown)of the display unit may automatically calculate and display a radiationpattern of the treatment beam based on the boundary information.Alternatively, when an operator inputs/selects information such as aseparation distance, a width of an area in which a treatment beam isradiated, and a spot density in an area in which a treatment beam isradiated among a radiation pattern of the treatment beam, the processormay calculate a treatment beam radiation pattern satisfying acorresponding condition and display the treatment beam radiation patternin the display unit 20.

A treatment beam radiation pattern may be set at a location separated bya predetermined gap or more from a lesion area in consideration of alocation and lesion contents of a lesion area with such a method. Inaddition, at this step, various parameters such as an output, a pulsetype, and a beam size of a treatment beam may be set.

When setting of treatment contents is complete, a treatment is performedby driving the ophthalmic treatment device (S30). At this step, thecontroller 40 may receive a treatment beam radiation pattern coordinatecalculated in a processor to drive various constituent elements in orderto radiate a treatment beam to a corresponding location. At this step,the treatment beam is radiated to a plurality of locations having aseparation distance (e.g., a range of 10 μm-200 μm or a range of 1 to 20cell gaps based on an RPE cell gap) by a predetermined gap or more froma boundary of the lesion area at the outside of the lesion areaaccording to a preset radiation pattern. At each location, a pluralityof treatment beams and probe beams are radiated and thus a tissue of acorresponding location may be treated until state information changes.

A treatment is performed with such a method, i.e., a method of changingstate information of a tissue by radiating a treatment beam to an areaadjacent to a lesion area according to a preset pattern and thus byregenerating an RPE cell of a corresponding area, a lesion area can betreated or a lesion area can be prevented from extending.

In the foregoing description, before performing a treatment, thetreatment has been performed with a method of previously setting aradiation pattern of a treatment beam and automatically radiating atreatment beam to a corresponding location. However, instead ofpreviously setting a radiation pattern of a treatment beam, a user mayperform a treatment while moving a radiation location of a treatmentbeam with a predetermined pattern to a location adjacent to a lesionarea, but separated by a predetermined gap while determining a lesionarea of a fundus through a slit lamp.

While this invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An ophthalmic treatment device, comprising:a treatment beam generation unit that generates a treatment beam; a beamdelivery unit that forms a path that radiates the treatment beamgenerated in the treatment beam generation unit to a patient's fundus;and a controller that controls the beam delivery unit to radiate thetreatment beam to one or more locations adjacent to a lesion area of thefundus, the one or more locations being outside the lesion area andseparated by a predetermined gap or more from a boundary of the lesionarea, wherein the controller controls to radiate the treatment beam tothe one or more locations that are separated by at least one RPE cellsize from the boundary of the lesion area so as to prevent the lesionarea from expanding, and wherein the lesion area of the fundus is anyone of an area in which geography angiography has occurred, an area inwhich drugen is formed, an area in which blood leakage has occurred, andan area in which macular edema is formed.
 2. The ophthalmic treatmentdevice of claim 1, wherein the treatment beam transfers energy to adepth in which an RPE cell layer is located at the patient's fundus. 3.The ophthalmic treatment device of claim 1, wherein the controllercontrols to radiate the treatment beam along a pattern that partitionsbetween the lesion area and a center of the fundus.
 4. The ophthalmictreatment device of claim 1, wherein the one or more locations form apattern separated by the predetermined gap or more from the boundary ofthe lesion area.
 5. The ophthalmic treatment device of claim 1, whereinthe controller controls to radiate the treatment beam in a patternseparated by 10 μm or more from the boundary of the lesion area.
 6. Theophthalmic treatment device of claim 1, wherein the one or morelocations are separated by 10-200 μm from the boundary of the lesionarea.
 7. The ophthalmic treatment device of claim 1, wherein a patternof the treatment beam encloses the lesion area.
 8. The ophthalmictreatment device of claim 7, wherein the pattern of the treatment beamforms a closed curve that encloses the lesion area.
 9. The ophthalmictreatment device of claim 4, wherein the pattern comprises a firstpattern and a second pattern, and the second pattern is separatelylocated further than the first pattern from the boundary of the lesionarea.
 10. The ophthalmic treatment device of claim 9, wherein aradiation gap of a treatment beam constituting the first pattern issmaller than that of a treatment beam constituting the second pattern.11. The ophthalmic treatment device of claim 1, wherein the treatmentbeam includes a plurality of beams, and the controller controls tosequentially radiate the plurality of beams at the same location andcontrols a parameter of the treatment beam.
 12. The ophthalmic treatmentdevice of claim 11, wherein the parameter of the treatment beam is anyone of an output, a beam size, and a pulse pattern of the treatmentbeam.
 13. A method of treating a fundus lesion, the method comprising:determining a lesion area using a patient's fundus image; and radiatinga treatment beam to a plurality of locations adjacent to a boundary ofthe lesion area, wherein the radiating of the treatment beam comprisesradiating the treatment beam at the plurality of locations separated bya predetermined gap or more from the boundary of the lesion area, andwherein the plurality of locations where the treatment beam is radiatedare separated by at least one RPE cell size from the boundary of thelesion area so as to prevent the lesion area from expanding, and whereinthe lesion area of the fundus is any one of an area in which geographyangiography has occurred, an area in which drugen is formed, an area inwhich blood leakage has occurred, and an area in which macular edema isformed.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the radiating of thetreatment beam comprises radiating the treatment beam in a form thatpartitions between the lesion area and a center of the fundus.
 15. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the radiating of the treatment beamcomprises radiating the treatment beam in a closed curve that enclosesthe lesion area.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein the location isoutside the lesion area.